


Enough For Now

by briaranise



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: High School, Human AU, M/M, Secret Relationship, Small Town Romance, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 19:37:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5678134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briaranise/pseuds/briaranise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur doesn’t want this to be a dirty little secret. Alfred can’t see why it has to be ‘dirty’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enough For Now

“We need to talk,” Arthur says after school one day.

He watches the way Alfred flinches, the boy’s bright blue eyes growing wide with hurt and confusion. Everything had been going well. They fight, but no more than any other couple. They kiss and hug and learn to touch each other eagerly. They talk. They discuss the future, their hopes and dreams, every plan from the solid to the whimsical.

They only discuss the future. Alfred’s face falls with growing realisation.

“Sounds like you’re gonna give me an ultimatum,” he says quietly.

Their town is small. Their classes are smaller. The entire school comprises of barely fifty children. There is one diner, one grocery store, and one tiny, outdated cinema. Visitors are few and far between. Nothing interesting happens there.

Arthur knows this. He knows that the parents of their town are the worst gossips, that anything even vaguely outlandish would be the talk of the town for months. But still. He wishes things could be different.

Alfred is something not unlike his boyfriend, and Alfred refuses to tell anyone.

–

They grew up not next door to each other, but with a ragged wooden fence separating their back yards. Their houses backed onto each other’s, and before they had even met Alfred knew that Arthur’s older brothers were rowdy and rough. It had been a shock to then discover that the youngest Kirkland son was instead slim and quiet, with wide green eyes and faint freckles that darkened every summer.

They met on the first day of school, and Arthur had immediately hated him. Alfred was too loud, he’d said. He was too arrogant and thoughtless and annoying. Alfred hadn’t exactly thought the world of Arthur either, not after failing to engage the bookish, irritable boy one too many times.

It all changed one night, when Alfred had stormed out of the house after an argument with his parents. He’d cried for some time in the back yard, his tears hot and angry. But then sniffling—which definitely belonged to someone else—caught his attention and he’d peered curiously over the back fence.

Something had changed between the two of them as they’d stared at each other, each with tears staining their cheeks.

–

“Why do you always make it sound as if I’m the villain?” Arthur snaps, his frown firmly in place. “This is nothing of the sort. It’s not an ultimatum—unless you want it to be.”

“That sounds an awful lot like an ultimatum to me,” Alfred replies, leaning against the rickety old fence as he looks over the top. Arthur’s dressed cutely today, he decides absently. His oversized jumpers are nothing but cute. 

“You should learn to take me seriously.” Arthur sighs then, and he leans against the other side of the fence wearily. Looking at him closely, Alfred wonders if Arthur has perhaps lost some weight.

“You know I always take you seriously. But why are you bringing this up again?”

“It’s not that I want to hold hands with you at school or anything of the sort,” Arthur rushes to say after a long moment of silence. He’s staring at the ground, his cheeks flushed. “I’d just like to have a boyfriend who doesn’t pretend to hate me in public.”

Alfred tries not to flinch at the ‘b’ word. They’re young. Too young to think of these things—Alfred is only eighteen, after all. Old enough to almost graduate high school, and old enough to be forced to decide what he wants to do for the rest of his life. But certainly not old enough to live his life without caring how others think of him.

“I don’t hate you,” he tries weakly, picking at splinters sticking out from the fence. Alfred joins in when his classmates heckle Arthur, but then again it’s expected of him. It doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like watching the way the other boy’s hair falls across his forehead, or the way that sunlight illuminates his eyes with flecks of gold. It doesn’t mean that he hates him. “You know that.”

“No, I don’t,” Arthur tells him, obviously trying to reign in his hurt, or frustration—or both. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth as if to continue the argument, but then Alfred hears a door slam open and there’s yelling coming from Arthur’s house. The slighter boy casts him a reproachful look and abruptly turns away from the fence.

Alfred doesn’t say anything as he watches Arthur head back inside.

–

They have plans. The plans may be solid or whimsical, but they’ll be together and that’s what matters. Arthur will apply to a college in a big city. His grades are high; there’s no possible way he won’t be accepted. Alfred’s pursuing a sports scholarship at the same college. They’ll both be accepted.

They’ll rent an apartment, and work between classes to make ends meet. Things will be tough at first. But they’ll be together. They’ll be allowed to be together. No one will look at them. There will be no gossiping townsfolk, and no disappointed parents. There will just be Alfred and Arthur, and the blessed blissfulness of anonymity.

They just have to wait.

–

He can feel the heat from Arthur’s glare throughout the day’s classes. No one comments; everyone knows that they do not get along. He turns around several times to try and catch Arthur’s gaze but the other boy quickly looks away. Arthur doesn’t want to talk. He just wants to glare.

During their lunch break, they both go to their respective houses and Alfred gently coaxes Arthur to the fence with soft promises for the future.

“What if I want to have you with me now?” Arthur demands, his hands gripping the rough wood. “What if I don’t want to wait—”

“I need this scholarship,” Alfred interrupts, running a hand through his hair in frustration. They’ve had this conversation countless times before, but they never reach a resolution. Arthur doesn’t want this to be a dirty little secret. Alfred can’t see why it has to be ‘dirty’. They can’t seem to understand each other. “Arthur, they’ll never give it to me if they know I’m with another boy!”

“You don’t need a sports scholarship!” Arthur replies hotly, his grip on the fence becoming white-knuckled. “You’re smart. If you put just a little more effort into your studies, you could get accepted on academic merit alone. You’re not some cliché dumb jock. There are other ways!”

Alfred sighs then, half-turning away from the fence. “I’m gonna get this scholarship. Then we’re gonna live together and be together. Okay? Let’s not argue. We know that’s how we’re gonna end up. It’ll be you and me, and we’ll get away from here.”

Arthur remains quiet. Slowly, cautiously, Alfred lays his hand on top of the other boy’s smaller one.

“There’s just one more month until offers,” he says, gently prying Arthur’s fingers from around the wood. He turns the other boy’s hand over and examines the smooth skin for splinters. “Let’s just… hold on. Okay? Then we’ll get out of here.”

“One month,” Arthur repeats, and it sounds like a plea.

–

The days pass by one by one, until Alfred receives a thick envelope in the mail. He tears it open eagerly, his heart pounding, and rushes into the back yard with the letter. Arthur is already standing on the other side of the fence, his expression both elated and terrified.

“I got a scholarship offer,” Alfred says breathlessly, thrusting the letter at the other boy. Arthur wordlessly exchanges it for his own. They’ve both been accepted. It’s really happening.

They graduate.

The school holds a short ceremony. All eleven graduating students wear their borrowed robes as they cross the small stage in the school hall. It’s short and sweet; barely an hour later, they’re free.

They’re held up by friends and family, but eventually escape and make their way to the dividing fence for the final time.

“Tomorrow’s the day,” Alfred says, beaming as he leans against the wood. “We made it.”

“Have you even packed yet?” Arthur replies mock-seriously, but a smile breaks through and they grin at each other, high on the feelings of relief and success. One more day.

Tomorrow morning they’ll start the three hour drive to their chosen college. They’ll start the rest of their lives in a large city. They’ll be anonymous and alone but together.

Alfred glances around then quickly leans over the fence, pressing his lips against Arthur’s in a chaste kiss. It’s the most they can risk at the moment, even though they’ve already accepted their college offers.

He feels Arthur smiling into the kiss, and he knows it’s enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to tumblr as a gift for literallyengland for the USUK summer exchange 2015. 
> 
> The prompt was 'basic general high school AU where they're together in secret, nothing special'. 
> 
> Vaguely inspired by the song 'Silenced by the Night' by Keane.


End file.
